Monthly Archives: May 2011

Tomorrow will be the start of my base training for my ultra-marathon race in September. I have to say, I’m not exactly sure how and where I am going to get the energy from to do this. The month of May has been pretty quiet. Kept telling myself I am still recovering from Two Oceans :-). But I can now see that is just an excuse. But, it is so cold in the morning, going to the gym is not really an option, but I guess I might not have a choice, cos somehow I need to get the kilometers on the legs!

Did a bit of research on how to train for a marathon with a time goal. Long run is most important. Did a 15km run this weekend after not running the whole week and boy I am still feeling it. Yes, sounds like I will be forever recovering :-). I have been lucky so far, a bit on the paranoid side and tried to do things according to the books and expert advice – and have been injury free till now. I am not sure what I will do if I do get injured! Never thought I would feel this way about running :-). But the point I wanna make, is to stress the importance of your weekly runs in training for a marathon. Don’t expect to feel good after your long run if you did not put in the time during the week. What you put in is what you get out :-).

I cant believe Two Oceans 2011 is over. I have taken some time off training, but have to say, I could not wait to get back to running :-). I HAVE SET MY HEART ON RUNNING the 2012 THE TWO OCEANS ULTRA MARATHON. Every race and all the training I will be doing will be in preparation for Two Oceans 2012. Unlike the Two Oceans Half Marathon, one needs to qualify for the Ultra Marathon. The qualifying criteria is simple…

A) finish a marathon (42.2km) in less than 5hrs….or

B) finish an ultra marathon (50km) in less that 6hrs 30min.…sounds easier 🙂

I have decided to take on the City-to-City Ultra Marathon as my qualifying race – I big challenge. I have done the planning and prepared a training programme and I’m really looking forward to this challenge – City-to-City Ultra Marathon onf the 18 September 2011.

I ran my first 10km race today and it was HARD! Mostly due to my own stupidity!! I arrived quite early at the venue and unlike all my previous races, I did NOT stand at the back. I stood way in front, with the ELITE :-)! For the first time I heard the gun went off. Other times I stood way back and always just knew the race has started cos the runners were moving…I think I was in front for about 20 seconds??? When the gun went off everyone in frony literally took of with a sprint at 20km/h! I think it was about 200m into the race and I was back in the middle of the pack and another 100m and I was even further back…RIGHT WHERE I BELONG, I tried to start fast but 500m into the race and I was KAPOET. Never ever before have I had thoughts about quiting a race -today I did. Kept thinking that if I stop now, it would be OK to walk back, as it would only be 1km to the start. As we ran I started thinking about the the shopping centre ahead, any place that I can stop and phone my coach to come and pick me up. I was struggling – not sure why. I admit, I have not done a lot of training for the race and my legs was heavy. I had all these negative thoughts in my head. Definitely was not me!

And then before I knew it, I was at 5km in 34mins (flippen personal best for me) and I knew there was no turning back after that, too far into the race. I was tired – but glad I start off fast as I knew the race was just going to get difficult from 6km onwards. I think I walked the whole of the 7th km, 13mins ( a mother of a hill, not steep, but o so long!). Nothing could make me run it, though I knew if I ran, I would probably achieve my goal and finsih within 68mins. Just decided I will try another 10km for that.

The rest of the race was fairly OK, but hard. I never ran easy or felt that I was in control. That is OK I guess. Time to think about what I need to do to break the 70mins for the 10km. More hill training, more speed training….Finshed in 1:10mins!

Quote of the day“It’s a long, hard road and it’s going to have its bumps; there are going to be times when you fall and times when you don’t feel like going on anymore, times when you’re just crazy tired but it takes focusing on that one step you’re taking. That’s what I’m trying to do with the marathon; I don’t think about the miles that are coming down the road, I don’t think about the mile I’m on right now, I don’t think about the miles I’ve already covered. I think about what I’m doing right now, just being lost in the moment”. Ryan Hall on running a marathon